It was a relatively quiet summer night at Sherman Patterson's house in the McKinley neighborhood in north Minneapolis.
Then the "pop-pop-pop" of gunshots rattled that calm evening nearly three years ago.
His wife, Sandra, instinctively dropped to the floor. Patterson, a retired Army sergeant conditioned to the sounds of artillery, wanted to know where the shots were coming from. And how to stop it. "I said to myself right then and there that I will not be scared inside of my own home," he said.
Since then, Patterson has become a low-key community leader in North Side neighborhoods, earning the respect of gang-bangers, grandmas, corporate execs and civic folk. Patterson, 41, now works for Mayor R.T. Rybak as a policy aide, primarily handling public safety matters. In short, he's a link to the streets.
He is expected to help Rybak's credibility on crime awareness and will be counted on to gauge the city's pulse as warmer weather - and an anticipated spike in violence - approach.
"It's a big role," Rybak said. Rybak added: "Especially since we're concentrating on two key areas of concern - public safety and the North Side." The mayor met Patterson through Council Member Don Samuels in 2003.
"I think Sherman provides an accurate perspective on the community," former Police Chief Bill McManus, who left for San Antonio this spring. "Working with him would've been a bonus - had I wound up staying."
In addition to McManus, Patterson consulted with many friends, including Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page, before taking the city job.
"He has boundless energy," said Page, Patterson's frequent morning running partner. "He's pretty perceptive and driven."
Now that he's working for the city, Patterson must answer street talk that he's little more than a "snitch." He said he has told several youngsters, "I will continue to help you better yourself, if you want me to."
He has been spotted alongside McManus at crime scenes, next to Samuels at vigils and assisting distraught families after tragedies, such as last year's double murder at Penn Best Steak House.
"We see him in the background, but now he's going to have to step up to the forefront," said longtime community leader Spike Moss, noting Patterson's subtle appearance at a Police Community Relations Council meeting last week at the Urban League. Patterson also said he has even heard murmurs from critics that because of his military background he was brought in by the government to oversee police-community relations.
"I've had people call me FBI, CIA," Patterson said in his City Hall office, glancing at a photo of himself alongside former President Bill Clinton. "But you know what? To this day, I haven't had a candid conversation with those people," he said. "They can come man-to-man to get to know me. I don't have anything to hide."
A Georgia native, Patterson moved to the Twin Cities in 1999 as an Army recruiter. It was then that he met his future wife, Sandra Presley, a Minneapolis native. He was called to duty in the the South shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks and in 2003, he retired, married and resettled in Minneapolis.
"I know Sherman wants to help and the mayor wants him there," said Tim Baylor, a former Minnesota Vikings player who also serves on the West Broadway Area Coalition board with Patterson and is the owner of two McDonald's franchises in Minneapolis and a principal developer along the north Minneapolis riverfront.
Patterson, Baylor said, must show the same "savvy and diplomacy" in City Hall that he demonstrates on the block. "Sherman must continue to keep his ears to the ground and eyes on the street in relation to what's happening so the mayor can make informed and fact-based decisions."
Terry Collins - 612-673-1790
Sherman Patterson
Age: 41
Job: Minneapolis policy aide, focusing on public safety; salary, $55,000. Background: Former board member of McKinley Neighborhood Association; former board chair of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission; former outreach coordinator and North Side safety coordinator for the Jordan Area Community Council; volunteer for Page Foundation; retired 1st sergeant in the Army, in which he served more than 20 years.
Family: Married, two children.
Name has a ring to it: He's a nephew of former heavyweight boxing champ Floyd Patterson.
No comments:
Post a Comment